California Agriculture in 2016

May 16, 2018

California has led the nation in farm sales since 1948, when Los Angeles County had more farm sales than any other U.S. county. The major reason that California's farm sales of $46 billion in 2016 were almost $20 billion higher than Number 2 Iowa at $27 billion is the dominance of high-value fruit, nut, and vegetable crops. Three-fourths of California's farm sales are fruits and nuts, vegetables and melons, and horticultural specialties such as floriculture, nurseries, and mushrooms, so-called FVH crops.

The value of California crops was $35.4 billion in 2016 and the value of livestock was $10.5 billion. California's leading commodities were milk worth $6.1 billion, grapes worth $5.6 billion, almonds worth $5.2 billion, cattle worth $2.5 billion, and lettuce worth $2 billion. These five commodities accounted for almost half of California's farm sales, although the value of milk, almonds, and cattle fell between 2014 and 2016.